Sanjaya Malakar may be one of the most puzzling cultural icons in recent memory. Why did so many people vote for someone everyone agreed blew? Where does a 17-year old kid get the gumption to sport a pony-hawk? What does his contradictory success mean for the "merit" of American Idol? (And, yes, the show does have merit, evidenced most readily by Jennifer Hudson and Kelly Clarkson.) In Gayville, our terrain, many have speculated about whether the young "singer" qualifies as queer. Such Idol speculation's nothing new - just look at Clay Aiken and lawsuit plagued Mario Vazquez.

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Less than a year after snatching EIC Aaron Hicklin from the cultured pages of BlackBook, Out publisher and senior vice-president Joe Landry has announced that he's leaving the fag-rag.

So, where's Landry sowing his publishing oats? BlackBook, of course. Don't you love the rat fuck known as magazine publishing?

We asked around for a bit of explanation, but have yet to turn up anything concrete. One thing's for sure, the formerly LA-centric Landry's going to spending a lot of time in New York, where Blackbook and Out both have offices. If any of you kids have more information, we'll gladly accept…

As for who will fill Landry's seat? Your guess is as good as Out's - they're apparently on the prowl.

Meanwhile, the Board of Directors got had a bit of a shake-up after Allen Morgan resigned yesterday. He'll be replaced by Phillip Kleweno, former president of Princess Cruises. How appropriate…

(Update: FYI, Landry published all of LPI's illustrious titles, including The Advocate, Out Traveler and HIV Plus.)

In sort of related news, British homo-journo Mark Simpson continues to get press for his metrosexuality replacement: sporno. The word first appeared in last July's edition of Out Magazine. Like a wordage wild fire, it started to spread, passing the lips of gays and straights alike and ultimately landing on The New York Times' Ideas of the Year list. Of course, the word's influence can't be contained to 2006 and has thus spawned an enjoyable Doron Halutz penned piece in Israel's Haaretz.

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If there's one person we love, it's that adorable scamp Rupert Everett. Sure, he may have a reputation for being a bit of a diva, but that doesn't mean he hasn't got some valid points to make, so we're thrilled to itty-bits that Out Magazine's taken some time to sit down with the gay actor to chat about his new memoir, Red Carpets and Other Banana Skins.

Sitting down with fellow Brit and Out EIC, Aaron Hicklin, Everett chats about his new book, growing up gay and the state of the gay celebrity nation. While he laments the dearth of out gay celebrities - a shortage that's particularly irksome when straight actors land the choice gay roles - Everett's not looking to be the go-to gay in the celebrity village.

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It's been over 48 hours since Out Magazine's annual Out 100 awards: the standard length of time needed to digest all the homo happenings. We must say, we haven't seen that many gay luminaries since…well, since last year's Out 100.

We must admit, it's all a bit of a blur. Good thing we brought along our crafty camera man, Ted, who chronicled all of editor Andrew Belonsky's misadventures. While some people were more than happy to talk to us, others were a little reluctant (that's an understatement). And, as you'll see, most people didn't even know who the fuck we were. Nice, huh?

Watch as Anne Hathaway says she could bench-press our fearless editor, designer Michael Kors brags about knowing everyone, Out EIC Aaron Hicklin lets us in on the secrets behind the selection process, Noah's Arc's Wilson Cruz gripes about not being admitted into the VIP area, Kelis hypothesizes on why the homos love her and Michael Lucas gives us shit for all the nasty comments (and, it seems, attempts to win Belonsky's ice cold heart).

We also managed a few words with Claire Danes. She really wasn't in the mood to be interviewed, but Cruz and Hathaway totally used peer pressure to make our dreams come true. Thanks, homies.

Oh, yeah, and we totally chickened out on flirting with Choire Sicha. We were so close, but he looked really busy (read: intimidating).

• Keith Boykin pays tribute to Luther Vandross for Out Magazine. [Out]

• Gay People's Chronicle has discovered that Carol Channing doesn't like the homos. She does, however, like their money. [Gay People's Chronicle]

• SOVO chops it up with some gay veterans. [The Southern Voice]

• Metro Weekly delves into the mind of Andrew Sullivan. [Metro Weekly]

• Jono and HX Magazine get in the holiday mood. [HX Magazine]

• AfterElton likes playing with Gay Gamer Flynn Demarco's joystick. [AfterElton]

As some of you may know, Out Magazine's hosting their annual Out 100 Awards tonight: their yearly celebration of notable homos and their admirers/allies. By some stroke of queer-luck, we've snagged an invite (okay, it's not really luck, Daddy David's being honored).

To prepare for the big night, we headed over to the fag-mag's Out 100 blog to see what they've got cooking. While there, we came across this post from Choire Sicha about how he and Out's legion of homo-journos will be blogging LIVE from said event. Pretty exciting, right? Well, not as exciting as this note from Sicha:

For those who are attending, you should feel free, even though I'm working, to hit on me should you feel so inclined.

Oh, don't you worry, Sicha, we'll hit on you alright. We'll flirt to the point of embarrassment. We'll whisper enough raunchy sweet-nothings to guarantee years of therapy. And, possibly, some time in the slammer for us.

You've been warned.

(Oh, and for all you kids lusting after Mr. Hauslaib, we'll be sure to snap a few candids for your scrapbooks.)

What's really funny about today's New York Times piece on Jamie Dornan is that just last night we were recalling his photoshoot in Out Magazine and how it seems that Dornan's the next Mark Vanderloo (only, we hope, with more of a career). It seems you can't open a magazine, turn on the telly or (now) read the newspaper without seeing this exceptional beauty. And, from what we gather from the article, he's only going up.

Of course, Dornan's absolutely flabbergasted by all the attention. Why? Well, like so many attractives, Dornan's a bit shy admitting he thinks he's worth all the gawking. Chatting with Guy Trebay, he insists, "I don't consider myself good looking." To this, we say: "bullshit".

The aesthetically blessed always know they're fetching. Unless they're blind and/or competely braindead, an attractive must notice the lingering glances, the turning heads and gaping mouths. And, to top it off, Dornan's a model! People don't want to take pictures of uglies. They don't want to put some monster in a Calvin Klein ad with Kate Moss. Keira Knightley wouldn't even dream of kissing some vile troll. And they certainly don't want to plaster a revolting mug on a gay magazine. No, Dornan's just saying that to make himself more endearing.

Don't worry, Dornan, even if you went on to become the biggest mass murderer in the history of the world (which would really be quite a feat, considering some of the nasty killers we've seen in history), we'll always love you. Unless, of course, you actually do become a psycho killer. We won't like you then, but we'll probably still think you're attractive. We'd probably even still have sex with you.

(Oh, and the picture above's from the Out Magazine shoot. You can experience the wonder of our coverage by clicking here. If you care to know what the mag had to say about Dornan, well, you can click here.)

We found this story over at Gay City News and thought we'd pass it on to you.

According to Richard Fumosa, managing editor over at Alyson Books, Barnes and Noble cancelled an event for the nebulously titled Paws and Reflect: Exploring the Bond Between Gay Men and Their Dogs after a publicist named Nancy Nicholson said that the book dealt with a "sexual reference with which she was uncomfortable."

Her discomfort arose from "two lines in an imaginative, non-memoir piece" found in two essays about Alexander the Great and Nietzche. The content, it seems, containts content "unsuitable for members of area animal rescue organizations to whom she had planned to pitch the event."

The article goes on to suggest that Nicholson actually didn't cancel the book, but that a representative from Alyson Books actually pulled the plug.

Another source, however, has told Gay City News that the cancellation decision was actually made by Alyson after hearing of Nicholson's concerns. According to that source, Barnes & Noble was willing to go ahead with the reading but Alyson pulled out.

Hmmm, we don't know who to believe on this one. Alyson Books falls under the giant LPI Media umbrella, the same company that brings us such fag-rags as The Advocate and Out Magazine. We're inclined to think they wouldn't pull the plug on the event. We suppose it depends on the amount of unsavoriness found in the contentious two lines. They'd have to be pretty gnarly to end an entire publicity event.

As you may or may not know, Out Magazine's Out 100 - their annual celebration of gay icons, leaders, and other notables - looms large on the horizon.

In celebration, they've enlisted some of Gayville's "biggest" names to blog-the-shit leading up to the November 10th event. Which names? Our friend Sam Spector, homo-songster Rufus Wainwright, Choire Sicha, and actor Michael Cavadias, to name a few.

Anyway, we moseyed on over to see how things are going and came across this piece on Out 100 honoree David Hauslaib: the man from whose loins we sprang. Here's a snippet of what Hauslaib had to say about his daily happenings:

"I go to the gym because my fat ass just got back from Paris and I need to work off the cheese.."

Wait. Hauslaib eats cheese? Fuck. Only rich people eat cheese. We've never even seen cheese. He told us he was living in a dumpster behind the LGBT Center and could only pay us in poppers and blowjobs!

He goes on to say that he sometimes works up to 14 hours a day. Right. Now that we know he's tasted that dairy product of the gods, we'll never trust another word he says. He's probably in Rome right now, eating grapes off of barely legal hookers and snorting lines of gold.

Wait… Oh no! We hear footsteps. We think he's coming for us…

• Ahhhh! Perez Hilton's penis! [Faded Youth]

• Activists accuse Chile of not protecting the homos. Gee, what a surprise… [365 Gay]

• Like so many hellish experiences, this one started in Chelsea. [The New Yorker]

• Prepare yourself for Mika: Gayville's newest pop star. [New Now Next]

• Madonna's baby daddy fears son's return. Today, at least. [Yahoo News]

• Mark Simpson wants Bond inside of him. James Bond, of course. [Out]

• Gay Australian soldier speaks out on Iraq. [The Gay Military Times]

You may have already seen the new cover design for Out Magazine, but we thought we'd post it, anyway. In an effort to boost sales, the fag-mag's looking to rebrand itself as a more sophisticated, modern pub. Sure, they've cleaned it up and it's a bit more adult, if you will, but it seems to us that they could have done something a little more eye-popping. It's nice and all, but perhaps a bit lackluster. We can't imagine looking down at all the stacks of magazines and having this one grab our attention.

But, who are we to talk about redesigns? And, of course, we all know that it's what's on the inside that counts. Judging from what we've heard about the next issue so far, the boys are keeping their editorial word.

A friend just sent us this link from Out Magazine. If you take a few seconds and follow it, you'll see just how much devotion John Cameron Mitchell (pictured, doing God-knows-what) put into his new movie, Shortbus. Here's a snippet:

For my Hitchcock cameo I decided to do something I had never done: I ate me some pussy. It didn’t get me hard, but it was better than craft service.

Yikes. If only we were as dedicated to our jobs. Guess that's why he gets paid the big bucks.

We thanked our lucky stars when these pics from Out Magazine's October issue arrived in our inbox. And, we're pretty sure you will, too. Dubbed "The 70s Issue," the edition looks back to a seemingly simpler time before AIDS, before gays sold-out, and sex ruled the world. Sounds good to us.
Staged on an imagined porn set by photographer Dah Len and styled by Sam Spector, "Rock Steady" may be the hottest, raunchiest photo spread the fag-rag has ever done. [Rumor has it the ad department nearly had a coronary when the pics were unveiled.] And, in a welcome move, the spread even includes women. Yes, we said it: women. Women with big ol' boobies and long, pink nails. Sounds like porn material to us.
With this shoot, it seems the mag may be hitting a new stride. And we have a feeling you'll be doing a little stride on yourself after the jump.

The new issue hits stands in mid-September. Until then, check out more at Out's website.

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• Having wrapped up its annual conference, the National Education Association is still sticking to its talking points: it does not endorse gay marriage. It just wants to. [CNS News]

• It took Out a little while to get around to the Ryan Smith gay bashing story, and now that the magazine finally did, readers are livid the story came so uncomfortably close to blaming Smith for his own attack. [Out]

• Now that New York's highest court has made its decision regarding gay marriage, the question begs: Is that it? [Advocate]

• Forget how you'd feel if Jake Gyllenhaal or Vin Diesel came out. What would it mean to their straight girl fanbase? [After Elton]

• It's not a summer in P-town if Andy Towle isn't there. [Towleroad]

• D.C.'s most narcissistic gay explains the rules for playing Kings when your white ass isn't surround by your frat guy-cum-yacht club member crowd. [VividBlurry]